중앙데일리

Kim Ki-duk chosen to open film fest

Feb 09,2019

This year’s Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, set to take place in Hokkaido, Japan, from March 7 to 10, will kick off with a screening of director Kim Ki-duk’s film “Human, Space, Time and Human” (2018).

The movie, Kim’s 23rd, tells the story of people of various ages and jobs who one day reach a mysterious world while traveling around the sea on a battleship. The film stars popular Korean and Japanese actors including Jang Keun-suk, Ahn Sung-ki, Ryoo Seung-bum, Mina Fujii and Joe Odagiri, and depicts the reality of human nature.

Last February, the film was screened in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival.

The film, however, is yet to be released in Korea due to controversy over Kim’s alleged sexual assault of several female actors.

Last March, several anonymous actors appeared on MBC’s “PD Notebook” and accused Kim of forcing them to shoot explicit scenes in 2013. The court indicted him on a summary offense and fined him five million won ($4,448) for sexual assault.

Kim denied the reports and filed a defamation suit against the actors in June. Last month, the court ruled the actors innocent.